Hanukkah Dinner and Convocation

President Joel

Richard M. Joel became Yeshiva
University’s fourth president on September 21, 2003, and was named Bravmann
Family University Professor in April 2010.

Over the past 14 years, President Joel has built upon the rich tradition of this storied institution by
placing a renewed emphasis on the student experience, academic excellence,
Torah scholarship and communal involvement.

With these advancements, and
guided by the distinctive belief in education as a process of “ennobling and
enabling” young women and men to build whole and meaningful lives, Yeshiva has
emerged as North America’s premier Torah-informed university. Further, with
President Joel's guidance, Yeshiva University has expanded its focus far beyond
the walls of the University, both through professional and rabbinic placement
globally and through service learning missions worldwide.

President Joel can often be spotted around Yeshiva’s campuses engaging and
learning about students with his characteristic charm and wit; one of his great
pleasures at Yeshiva is serving on its faculty and teaching his weekly course.
Following his lead, the University has further developed a culture of
warmth.

Renowned as a charismatic
leader and a captivating orator, President Joel has traveled globally to
dialogue with audiences on value-driven education, communal leadership, and
Jewish identity. Just as Yeshiva University has embraced its role as the
flagship institution of American Modern Orthodoxy, President Joel has in many
ways become more than a university president but also a true spokesperson for
the Jewish people.

Before taking the helm at
Yeshiva, President Joel earned his reputation as a dynamic force with young
people as President and International Director of Hillel: The Foundation for
Jewish Campus Life. There, he facilitated an extraordinary renaissance of
Jewish life on campuses by building numerous new facilities, partnering in the
creation of Birthright Israel and using engagement and empowerment models to
reach Jewish youth.

Born in the Bronx, nearby
Yeshiva’s Wilf Campus, President Joel earned his B.A. and J.D. from New York
University, where he was a Root-Tilden Scholar, and has received honorary
doctorates from Boston Hebrew College and Gratz College. He also served as
Assistant District Attorney in New York, Deputy Chief of Appeals in the Bronx
and Associate Dean and Professor of Law at YU’s Benjamin N. Cardozo School of
Law.

President Joel considers his
greatest accomplishment marrying his best friend and partner, Esther, who holds
a PhD from Yeshiva’s Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology. Together they have
six children, all of whom attended Yeshiva University, and ten grandchildren,
who are the great joys of their lives.